Bank of Hawaii Corp.’s earnings rose 3.4 percent in the first quarter as loans and deposits grew and it severely reduced the amount of money it set aside for potential loan losses.

  The state’s second-largest bank said today it had net income of $43.8 million, or 95 cents a share. That easily beat the consensus by 15 analysts of 81 cents a share, according to FactSet. A year earlier, Bankoh had earnings of $42.4 million, or 88 cents a share.

Loans and leases rose 5.1 percent to $5.6 billion and deposits jumped 7.2 percent to $10.6 billion. Bankoh ended the quarter with $13.8 billion in assets, up 6.1 percent from the year-ago period.

The bank’s provision for credit losses plunged 92.5 percent to $351,000 from $4.7 million.

Bankoh’s stock rose 48 cents, or 1 percent, to $48.11 on a down day for the overall stock market. The earnings were released before the market opened.